Jul 22, 2008

And The Average Age Of A Canadian Gamer Is...

...40.3 years old. That statistic comes from a new study by Ipsos-Reid commissioned by our good friends at the Entertainment Software Association of Canada.

Just as interesting, the study found that a majority of Canadian parents (57%) claim they play video games with their kids (Yes, I said majority!) Also, a growing number of parents (41%) actually prefer their kids play video games rather than watch television.

With stats like these I'm convinced that kids these days have it made, I mean I started playing video games when I was three years old and hell if any adult I knew would play games with me. The closest I ever got was when I played a 30 second match of Pong against my mom, but she quickly gave up after I scored a few easy shots on her. Luckily, this generation the Wii has made it so easy to play games you can literally just wave your Wiimote around wildly and get a strike in Wii bowling.

Finally, if anyone you know in Canada doubts what a juggernaut of an industry video games have become as of late - tell them that last year Canadian families purchased $1.67 billion worth of entertainment software and hardware. That stat is also courtesy the same Ipsos Reid study.

Last year I contributed at least a $1,000 towards that figure. Hot damn - pretty soon I'm going to be one of those 40 year old game addicts!